Maybe Not Quite So Alone
by octaviaxanadu
Summary: Mark Watney, a botanist of the Hermes spacecraft headed on their way to Mars was not expecting to find himself alone and left behind after the crew was told to abort mission. However, Mark isn't quite alone as he thought. Now he has to get past the many barriers they come across and figure out a way to send Mark back home. Preferably alive.
1. The Beginning

Another day of patrol.

Foreigners had come from the sky and it was my job to make sure they weren't up to anything.

It is the sixth day since they arrived. My hideout was placed strategically, being far enough to see what's happening and have time to warn the boss and still managing to be out of sight.

There has been a few instances where one of the foreigners whipped around to look my way, assuming they saw me from the corner of their eye.

All they seemed to do was look at their equipment and pick pieces from the ground. And as the land started to darken they would hide away, only to reappear at light and do the same thing as before.

There were six of them, and they looked pretty ridiculous if you asked me. Large heads and bulky bodies that didn't look normal.

I assumed they could talk to each other somehow, maybe through telepathy. Today, only four went out. One went to the large and tall thing they brought with them, another picked up more pieces of dirt, the other two started doing something with more things they brought with them.

Everything was going fine until I noticed the shift in the wind. I knew what was coming next. I started packing up my stuff, and noticed as one last check that they were also hiding.

I lifted up the hatch and ducked inside. It's positioned as a natural camouflage as the ground covers it once the hatch is closed. I locked the hatch, I headed toward the voice combobulator and recorded a message to the boss, sending it before the storm would become interference.

I knew what to expect, as the atmosphere had changed so suddenly, the storm is bound to be very serious. I switched on the barriers for minimal damage and braced myself as the timer ticked down.

Sure enough, the pounding of the merciless wind rattled the shelter momentarily before the barriers kicked in.

I sighed, now I have to wait the storm out. Easiest way for that to happen is to sleep it off. I walked into the corner, where my bedding hung between the walls. I slipped in, the tendrils slowly wrapped themselves around me in a tender embrace. I quickly fell asleep.

I woke up to beeping from the barriers. The tendrils slowly released themselves from around my body and I placed my delicate feet on the metallic floor. Stepping toward the control panel, the flashing button was green, the storm was over. I knew I had to continue my job. I shut off the button and opened the hatch, squinting against the dust that flooded in. It was light out, the storm had lived through the dark. I climbed out of the hatch and shut it, the dust naturally falling over it leaving only the handle visible. The handle was disguised as a rock, which means no suspicion from the foreigners. I peaked over the hill.

Silence. Further inspection aroused surprise, as the big tall thing they brought with them is gone. The smaller but round one was still there though. I remembered the report say that they came in something similar to the taller thing, so the only logical explanation here is that they left. But, I know my orders, further inspection is mandatory.

Once again I flung open the hatch, for once not caring about the thud that occurred from the hatch door hitting the rocks and sand at such a force, and swung myself down, not bothering to close it. I raced over to the machine my commanders gave me and raced back outside. This time I bothered to close the hatch, a much louder clunk resounded than the thud beforehand. In almost childish excitement from the joy and possible promotion I could receive for this piece of information I switched it on. Bits and bobs glowed a colour close to my skin but more bright and it seemed to come alive. A small projection of the smaller thing came into view. I knew to search this place because this is where they would disappear when it went dark. It scanned for a while before a conclusion popped up. No life forms detected. YES! Commander is going to be so happy about this! I almost jumped up and down from excitement. This was my favourite part of my job. I once again jumped through the latch and hurriedly but carefully typed down a report telling Commander of the situation and requesting that I can do some investigating. Now all I can do is wait…. Or jump around in excitement. I think I'm going for the second option.

A report came in, flashing on my receiver. Clicking the accept button the report appeared and displayed its contents. The report was from my crush. Of course she had almost zero chance of going with me as that just wasn't how it works. The female chooses the male as the partner, not the other way around. That's just how it is and how it's always going to be. No one ever chooses me, the one who prefers to hide in the shadows. I've seen her around a lot of times but I'm one hundred percent sure she doesn't know my name, and sadly I don't know hers. The report only comes with a photo of the service women, no name. Names were associated with attachment, which was rare within our community if you weren't partners. As usual I read the report before I headed off to the boss. Twisting through hallways and corridors, I never gained a second glance, after all, I was only a messenger. Once the boss's door stood tall and intimidating in front of me I took a moment to collect myself. I knocked on the door with the pattern messengers use. One second later they opened. I timidly stepped inside, silently begging for her to speak up. She was standing with her back turned to me, staring at the painting hanging on the wall behind her desk, hands locked and hanging behind her back, standing pin straight she exuded confidence.

"Yes?" Her drawled question immediately sent shivers down my spine and I rushed to answer.

"You have received a report Miss, about the foreigners." I swallowed, glad I didn't stutter.

"And?" She replied. She gave no indication of turning around, usually this was rude, but she's the boss, it's not rude for her, and only her.

"It says that after the storm that rolled over yesterday the foreigners have left and they are requesting to do an extensive search for anything useful to us. Permission granted or denied?"

"Hmm." She hummed to herself while I angstily awaited her decree. She suddenly spun around and I had to resist the urge to jump back. She rested her hands on the table, azure eyes scrutinized my every twitch, fumble and turn. She narrowed her eyes and I swallowed dryly. She licked her lips slowly, "Granted."

I nodded once and swiveled around straining to not trip or do something embarrassing in front of the commander, heading back down the halls and to my station to send her the seal of approval. I hesitated for a split second, my finger over the button, before I pressed it. The loading bar slid up until it lit up with one word: 'Sent.' before her face drifted away and the next telegram came through. I sighed.

The button dinged, Commander had replied. I nearly slammed my fist on the message alert button and the reply popped up. I squealed; 'Permission Granted.' "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I loved this part of my job! I nearly tripped on my way to the right hand wall in my excitement, entered the password, opened the hatch and pulled out the utility belt, strapping it around my waist and the smaller two on my wrists. I gathered my hair up and out of the way, the smaller strands disobeying and falling over my forehead. I strapped more little gadgets in the slots provided on the belt. The last one was a weapon, every worker for the commander gets assigned two at one stage, one for the job and one for backup. I know the detector said that no life forms were found but it was better to be safe than sorry. I strapped the gun on.

Flinging the hatch open once again and letting it close again I jumped and slid down the dune my hideout was placed in, overlooking the foreigners base. But as I was getting nearer, anxiety started clutching at my stomach. I was afraid of what I would find in there. My foot got caught on something as I was just outside where the foreigners would enter. I bent down and untangled myself, confusion laced through my movements. It seemed to be a strong wire buried underneath the dust, my fingers pulled on it and I felt something on the other end, a while later the end reached me. It appeared to be some type of metal. There didn't seem to be anything special about it so I let it fall a few feet away from me, sand getting disheveled under the object. Just then a strange noise hit my ears, it almost sounded like a door opening back at the camp before we got a massive upgrade a couple decades ago. The sound came from ahead at a different part of the foreigner's home.

It was the same place they would enter when it got dark. Frozen like a zupnor with a light shining on them I watched as one of the foreigners stepped warily out of the entryway. They were moving slower than how they usually would but that doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't be here. The device said there were no life forms and their 'ship' is gone!

Unless they weren't inside when I checked…

But I couldn't see them anywhere close to the proximity of the base! Oh, I am going to be in so much trouble…

Just take a step back, they won't notice. Get out of sight and make a run for it, go! Go! GO!

Big mistake.

My feet hit the metal pole I dropped seconds ago. It made a semi-loud noise and I cringed. We both froze. Stuck in time it seemed. The foreigner started to slowly turn around and with the same speed I started to ready myself. Suddenly, the foreigner jumped around out of nowhere, scaring the kruppa out of me!

Instantly, my gun in my hand pointed directly between what I hoped was their head.

"Stand down! Do not move or I will be obliged to shoot!" I shouted at them. I felt my skin prickle with animosity in an attempt to be more intimidating.

The gun started glowing, preparing a shot to kill.

The foreigner seemed to react immediately by throwing their arms up so what appeared to be their hands were next to what I assumed was the head. I urged myself to keep calm, knowing that they couldn't possibly know what was considered a show of a threat or a sign of peace. I could vaguely hear some unidentified language running through a mouth I couldn't see. The foreigner started frantically waving their hands around, unknowing of what this could mean I instead sharply pulled the gun down to their feet and shot a warning blast. The ground just in front of them near exploded from the cosmic energy and something reminiscent of a shriek emitted from the foreigner. Now my instincts were telling me to run. Fearing I might've angered them. So I did the only rational thing my brain could come up with, threw a small smoke bomb settled on my wrist and ran away.

My heart was fighting its way out of my chest as I frantically threw myself into the hatch and locked it behind me. My fingers fumbled in typing an alert to base that a foreigner had been left behind and I had had an encounter with them, but, as my hand hovered, shaking harder than it had in my life, I couldn't find it in me to actually send it. I was screaming at myself in my head to push it just push it you idiot they could kill you. But I couldn't. The quiet and empathetic part of my brain kept throwing what ifs into my consciousness. What if they were me? What if, I was in the situation they were in, all alone on a planet I don't know and was just attacked by a native? What if, I was scared and hurt and with no way to go home?

I couldn't press that button. Instead I sat back in my chair, the button glowing menacingly at me. The rational part of my brain suddenly switched sides. It's only one foreigner, you know they are most likely alone, you know their technology is a lower grade than yours, the commander doesn't need to know. Imagine how helpful it would be to communicate with them and find out why they came, if they become violent, then you can blast them to bits and pretend nothing ever happened. Easy.

It was not easy.

****A/N: Hello, I hope you like this idea that I've had for a few years, this is just a repost because I fixed up a few minor errors. Don't worry if you've already read the chapters already out on here because nothing really noticeable has changed, they were just bugging me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and will continue to follow my story. :)****


	2. Unknown

After far too long pacing around the hatch, I finally managed to steel myself for what was about to come. Thinking back to the encounter and how much time had passed it was easy to deduce that by shooting at the ground near the Unknown's feet had not only created a distraction but had also sealed a solid escape route. The head of the Unknown, from up close looked a lot like the ancient versions of B.I. 's from back when we were exploring our atmosphere and braving the deadly storms.

Our civilisation had quickly moved on to just living underground so our growth wasn't staunched by our planet's harsh conditions. Salrich, the planet I live on and will die on has some of the harshest conditions, strong and damaging sandstorms, the days are average but the nights are lethal. All of it is unfit conditions for us to live, thankfully, we don't live on the surface. Instead we live underground, harvesting our livelihoods and maturing the animals. All entrances to the surface are heavily monitored and kept under surveillance. With The Everlasting Treaty, a treaty formed between our five colonies to ensure that there be peace and prosperity between us despite our differences and ensuring the livelihood of our people. Our nations, spread out through different layers were tasked with different duties depending on where we lived.

My colony, the closest to the surface, are tasked with Foreign Communications and Wildlife Care. Though, the first part hasn't really needed much attention for a very long time. That is, until our neighbor planet started getting curious. Now we are as busy as ever and I, being one of the only ones who signed up for the Foreign Communications course as I thought it was interesting at the time, (I was never quite one for farming), now have been deployed to the first ever F.C. mission with little to no backup or prior experience. No matter how this goes, it'll go down in our history. The notion is as terrifying as it is exciting.

The foreigner doesn't know our rules and customs - just as we don't know theirs. The main problem we have is that they are trespassing on our grounds. The meeting that had become of greatest importance between our world leaders when we had seen the Unknown's ship-craft-transport thingy heading toward us and eventually landing had taken three days to come to its end. The end of the meeting called for safety measures and a stake out. Originally, I was supposed to have a teammate. But he, as a young cadet, was fooling around during training and had gotten himself injured enough that he was deemed unfit for duty not long before Unknown's sent their ship out. And so, I was alone for this mission. All decisions I make will lead to the future of our planet and our species. It was very, very serious.

In true Doagaru fashion, I took it with a grain of shol.

* * *

For the first time since it was put there, the combat suits were pulled out from under the console, locked inside heavy duty casing that is password protected. The Unknown were moving so slow that we weren't expecting anything like this to happen for at least another five generations. Nonetheless, we had prepared just in case they weren't friendly. To me, the most important piece of equipment is the standardised voice module. A very helpful piece of tech designed to translate both what you're hearing and what you're speaking. This tech was made back before the Everlasting Treaty was even made. Though it has been upgraded over the years, there wasn't much else you could add to it and most of the changes were only relevant to design. The design of the standard voice modules is that of a three shals thick piece of tech that wraps around your throat to a comfortable size that fluctuates with your movements. The two detachable pieces split in half; the pad shaped pieces are placed behind your ears and the chips are placed on the sides of your back teeth. The closer you can get, the more efficient. Of course there were reports of actually swallowing the tech and having to get it replaced; a huge hassle for the mechanics back when there weren't as many to go around.

I figured I could tamper with it just slightly and be able to pick up on the Unknown's language and hopefully form some type of communication between us. That way, there would be way less confusion. Thankfully it was mandatory to take a tech course for this job.

Tampering with the voice module took a while but I was pretty sure that I had it ready to go by the time I was ready to go out and face the Unknown once again.

But that was easier said than done.

My hands were trembling as I slowly lifted up the hatch door and peeked through the crack. The coast was clear but my mind was not. My thoughts were a mess but I still snuck my way out.

It's time to face the Unknown.

****Hello hello, as you know these are just some fix-its. The next chapter to this story is what I'm posting next but it has been delayed far more than I would have liked with a suddon onslaught of assignments due really soon. Sorry about that, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can. :)****


	3. Translation: Loneliness

The foreigner wouldn't leave their hut.

After several hours of scouting around the base that they had set up, there was no sign of the foreigner. Best guess was that they had barricaded themselves in. Usually, this was best as it would make it easier to assess their equipment before planning the trip and collecting the breathing equipment from the tech department but knowing that the foreigner is still inside, and alone, nonetheless, held back the plans and procedures. At this point I have a choice to make. Option one, I tell Commander about the foreigner and how they were left behind, surely gaining a 'Kill On Sight' command regardless of their intentions. Or, option two, I wait them out, converse with them using my universal translator and figure out their intentions before informing Commander and risk still getting the 'Kill On Sight' command plus a punishment for not telling Commander immediately. There are upsides and downsides to both, but the idea of being the first to communicate with a foreigner from Piraek is much more tempting than option one.

The sun started setting. I head back to my bunker. I'll have to sleep on it, option one, or option two?

* * *

Option two it is, was the first thought that popped into my head when I woke up the next day. There was one glaring problem with this choice though; the foreigner would not leave their hut. Of course, this is understandable. However, it is imperative that we converse in a safe manner before the day comes to a close and I have to send off my mission report and request for the breathing equipment.

Eventually, I settled for waiting outside. They couldn't stay in there forever, I had watched them clean off the tech that looked remarkably similar to our solar devices back from when they were first distributed. The tech was covered in dust, from the storm a couple nights back. The foreigner would need to clean them, if they wanted power.

I could wait.

* * *

It took several hours.

Once the foreigner had finally come back outside I was blocking the way back inside before they could do anything about it.

"Foreigner, I intend to speak with you." I stated, attempting to keep my voice calm and clear. So far it was working.

The foreigner let out a stream of garbled noises, the anxiety in them was unmistakable.

Holding up the translator that had been sitting by my side, ready to use for days now, I pointed it in the foreigner's vague direction.

"I'll need you to speak into this for several minutes. It will allow us to communicate without the language barrier. Though, I know you don't understand what I'm saying. At least, not yet." Clicking a few buttons and swiping a few options; the translator was ready to do its job. Pressing the 'start' and sealing my lips so as to not interfere with the tech as it was doing its magic; a small line appeared, floating a few ershals above the interface. The line was mostly straight.

The foreigner garbled a few more of what seemed like sentences.

The line warped and twisted as they garbled and stopped when they did.

There was a beat of silence. I looked up at the foreigner. I could vaguely distinguish more features now that we weren't freaking out at each other, but I was getting impatient. I gave them a look. They did nothing. I started gesturing at the tech, mimicking moving my mouth as though I was speaking but they didn't seem to be getting the idea.

Finally, the foreigner garbled some more and in my haste I stepped forward so the tech could pick it up more clearly. They were obviously startled by this and shouted more noises. I started shaking my head in a way that indicates 'yes! yes!' before realising that they probably didn't know what I was trying to say.

Imagine my surprise when they started shaking their 'head' back in the same way before continuing to garble more and more.

The tail end of the now-warping line was turning from blue to purple. The foreigner kept garbling until the line was a solid purple and I held up my hand. They stopped immediately.

Now, for my turn. I started speaking into the translator. Repeating the protocol that had been instilled into my memory years ago, "I am Ophiuchi from the Doagaru clan. Sector 14-B, national ID: 6729475140382A1C. Welcome to Salrich." As well as more meaningless sentences to tell the device my speaking patterns and grammar structures specific to my people. The process went much faster as I was using the basic structure that the foreigner wouldn't know of.

Nearly buzzing with energy, my tail swishing violently behind me, the transfer completed. I took off my military edition vocal translation brace that is usually situated around my neck and inserted it into the vocal slot and repeating the process with the hearing translation studs into the hearing slots. It felt strange to be without them but they were needed.

Within less than a grick it had finished processing and transferring the data to the devices. Placing the tech back into their respective places and clearing my throat, preparing to speak, a thought drifted around my head. This moment will become an important piece of history. Don't mess it up. Totally not intimidating.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Welcome to Salrich." Smiling, I had to maintain a pleasant look as the foreigner acted reasonably shell shocked.

"Whaaaaaaat? You did not just speak English. I must be going crazy." the foreigner started shaking. "That's it, I'm going crazy." They assured themselves.

"I can assure you that you are not going insane. Rather, my technical device synced our sound waves and speaking patterns in a way that should you speak to me, I will be able to understand and construe a response that registers in your language functions inside your brain as a response that you are able to understand." I hoped none of my jittering was noticeable.

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense."

"Come, we have much to discuss. Such as your business on our planet." Walking to the side and finally unblocking the way into the foreigner's hut.

"You're why." I heard some shuffling steps, the foreigner was following behind me.

"Please rephrase that statement. I do not understand."

"We wanted to know whether or not we were alone."

I stopped walking and heard their steps stop as well. Turning around, I smiled at them, as gently as I could muster.

"You were never alone."

****A/N: Hello! I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to update but I had to think over how I really wanted their interaction to be, as well as the fact that up until the 2nd chapter I was going off of mostly memory. Now, I have arrived with a timeline of the movie as well as a list of every log listed in the movie while also being able to access the book. I may add sections of the book into here as well if I see it fitting for the story. Eventually this should turn out to be my own version of Frankenstein's monster. Either way I hope this chapter makes my lateness up to you :)****


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